Bachendri Pal Biography 
Bachendri Pal is an Indian mountaineer. In 1984 she became the first Indian woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. She was born on 24 May 1954 in a village in the Himalayas named Nakuri in Uttarkashi, now Uttarakhand. After this historic moment, she successfully led an "Indo-Nepalese Women’s Mount Everest Expedition in 1993, All women team of rafters in "The Great Indian Women’s Rafting Voyage in 1994 and The "First Indian Women Trans-Himalayan Expedition” in 1997.
Bachendri Pal belonged to a family of very moderate means. Her native place is northern part of India, a small village in Himalayas named Nakuri. People of her village worshipped the mountains. She was one of seven children to Smt. Hansa Devi and Shri Kishan Singh Pal. Her father was a grocery supplier from India to Tibet. Her passion of mountaineering started at the age of 12 when she scaled a 13,123 ft (3,999.9 m) high peak during a school picnic along with her friends. She was good in studies too and was the first graduate from the village. She took MA in Sanskrit and B.Ed. During her college days, she climbed Mt. Gangotri and and Mt. Rudragaria and later got the job as an instructor at the National Adventure Foundation.
After summiting a number of smaller peaks, she was selected in the mixed team to conquer Mount Everest in 1984. Pal was selected as one of the members of the elite group of six Indian women and eleven men to attempt from Sagarmatha in Nepalese. On 22 May 1984, Ang Dorjee and a few others joined the team and Bachendri was the only woman in this group. They started early morning and spent night at Camp IV at the altitude of 26,000 ft. On 23 May 1984, the team reached the summit of Mount Everest at 1:07 p.m and Bachendri Pal created a new history.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 23, 2014
